Housewife’s debts more than $½M

Press, 22 February 1977, Page 6

Housewife’s debts more than $½M

i PA Wellington; The meeting of creditors oi a 26-year-old Masterton housewife. Susan Marx Pi ; mer, with debts of more than; ’s£ million, yesterday formed a committee to represent] their interests. 1 The move came at the end! of a day-long meeting in | Wellington before the: Deputy Official Assignee (Mr! I M. N. Ensor) that heard that !Mrs Pilmer had debts of; ; $536,236.85, with about half! j of the expected debts yet to! I be disclosed. The committee is to col-, ilect and collate information; (whicht might not be immediately available to the Official! (Assignee. The meeting was 1 adjourned until April 26. , The circumstances of the! meeting were unusual be-1 cause criminal proceedings were under way against Mrs Pilmer. Mr Ensor said. Counsel (Mr R. J. Buddle); asked that the press be excluded as some of his client’s answers to creditors’ questions could be prejudicial to the defence! case at his client’s trial. But about 60 creditors present; voted two-to-one in favour of! the press’s staying. Mrs Pilmer attributed her

i t bankruptcy to excessive bor--1 rowing, mismanagement, and I psychological problems Her assets included a new II $70,000 house, on which I $4500 was still owed, conII tents worth $15,000. SfiOtto worth of Gear Meat Com-i lipany shares, and a 1972 i Jaguar car valued at about ! I $ll,OOO. •I The meeting agreed that : the assignee in c nsulta’i m I with the mortgager of Mrs tPilmer's house. Challenge ii Finance, and its builder should decide on disposal of I the property. i Mrs Pilmer said she riist went into business in 1972; I with a hairdressing salon Her only previous business, , experience had been working I for a stockbroker, a lawyer,, land as a clerk for a financial! research and rnanagemeni , organisation In none of those positions i did she work in an executive I capacity. She put $3OOO which she. borrowed from her mother' into the hairdressing bustIness. Asked if the business were profitable, she said it, (broke even. She sold it after; (about a year. At that stage she was able to pay her 1 debts.

At the beginning of 1174 she raided a loan of between $lOOO and $2OOO. mhe toad i not be sure what she did with the money. Alter s.te .had sold the business she had no source of income I other than borrowing The sums she borrowed were on short term on an individual contract basis. Interest rates as high as 3" per cent were charged. >'■ • had to keen borrowing to r pay the loans.